The disciples were terrified, and Jesus asked them why. They had Him with them in the boat. Barnes puts it simply: they should have remembered that "with him you are safe." Gill notes that they did have some faith, since they came to Him for help: "Some faith they had, as appears by their application to him, but it was very little." What they lacked, Gill says, was faith "in him, as sleeping, that he could deliver them." Matthew Henry says that Jesus "slept at this time to try the faith of his disciples." The question invites them to look at their fear in the light of who was with them.

The disciples give no answer. Jesus answers the storm instead: "Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm" (Matthew 8:26). Then "the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!" (Matthew 8:27). Mark and Luke say the disciples "feared exceedingly" and "being afraid wondered" (Mark 4:41; Luke 8:25).

"Fearful" translates deiloi, which Thayer defines as "timid, fearful." "O ye of little faith" is a single Greek word, oligopistoi.

Matthew records this question before Jesus calms the storm. Mark and Luke place His words after the calm and phrase them differently: "Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?" (Mark 4:40) and "Where is your faith?" (Luke 8:25). Mark adds that Jesus was "in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow," and that the disciples asked, "Master, carest thou not that we perish?" (Mark 4:38).

This question shows the patience of Jesus with weak faith. He named their fear and their little faith, but He did not leave them in the storm. He rose, rebuked the winds and the sea, and saved them. Matthew Henry writes, "Christ's disciples are apt to be disquieted with fears in a stormy day," and also, "Many that have true faith, are weak in it."

The question also points to who Jesus is. The One sleeping in the boat could speak to the wind and the sea, and they obeyed (Matthew 8:26-27). Barnes says, "His word awed the tempest and allayed the storm!" Jesus uses the same address, "O ye of little faith," for His followers when they worry about clothing (Matthew 6:30), when Peter sinks on the water (Matthew 14:31), and when they fret about bread (Matthew 16:8). Each time He calls them back to trust Him.